Cal Doing What He Does Best

 

Cal in the Kitchen Window

 

Cal the Cat

This is Cal. He's just the best cat ever and a great mouser. 

The Llama Song

Llama Song

Entering the Millennium

I'm an official member of the millennium. Wanna know why? I got an iPod over the weekend! Woohoo! It's one of the best gadgets I've ever owned. I think it's somewhat of a gyp that iTunes charges a buck a song but I already had close to a thousand MP3's (should I even put that out there on the internet??) on my computer so I had a good library to upload and listen to this week.

We took another trip to Manchester, NH on Sunday; The Land of No Sales Tax! Heheh. We bought the girls their back to school stuff and a few other odds and ends. We also hit up Bertucci's which has the best pizza we've ever had anywhere. Wood-fired buddy! Blows Pizza Hut clear out of the water, lol.

This is a tidbit that's been floating around in my head for a couple weeks now so I'll take this opportunity to bring it up...Have any of you ever seen the documentary Supersize Me? If you haven't and you're a fastfood lover you should. That's one freaking scary ass documentary. I haven't touched fastfood since I've seen it. You know they put preservatives and other crap in their food to make you crave it and become emotionally dependent on it, right? Keep that in mind next time you're thinking that you just have to have a Big Mac. I have no idea what I'm going to eat on the way to North Carolina when we move, lol.

There are other political, religious, ethical, and social issues that have been fighting to get out of my head for some time now but I've been hesitant to bring them up here. Why? Well, for several reasons actually, some of which I'm sure some of you are smart enough to figure out for yourselves. But I think once my classes are over and I have time to actually write about these things, I'm going to start posting them. Just figured I'd give a heads up and give ya'll time to brace yourselves, heheh. I'll be putting the tens of thousands of dollars that I have wracked up in student loans to good use.

Anyway, enough of all that. I have 3 finals due tomorrow so I need to get off of here and get them finished up. Laters.

Creeeeepy!

Check this link out...


Click Me

Whatcha think?

So. What's New?

Well, I'll tell you. I got all my grades back and I got A's across the board. Yay for me! My summer semester starts in about 2 weeks.

C's on leave right now. He took 4 days this week. We're not doing much of anything besides finishing up projects around the house. We broke ground (heheh) on the sidewalk project today. We're about half way done with the digging but it started raining AGAIN, so we had to call it quits. We're hoping to get the thing finished tomorrow if the weather would just cooperate. We bought a couple shrubs and a lilac bush to plant as well. When we get the flower beds finished I'll buy some flowers to put in. I haven't decided what I want to get yet though. We're also going to try and get the dining room floor finished. Eating at the coffee table is getting really old. Doesn't sound like C's getting much of a vacation does it?? heheh.

Meanwhile, it looks like Vickie and Candy are going to pick the girls up for the summer. It'll probably be the second week of July. The girls are pretty excited.

In other news...We have a mouse in the house. Big UGH!!! Seeing as how our house is in the country surrounded by open fields, I think this turn of events was pretty much inevitable. The weird thing about it is that the mouse seems to like the drawer that I keep Saran Wrap and aluminum foil in. I also have a package of cough drops that it likes to eat. C and I heard it in the kitchen last night and tried to sneak up on it so we could see it in action. As soon as I got into the kitchen, the smell of menthol was overwhelming, heheh. Now, we're in the market for a cat.

Let's see. I think that's about it for now. Until next time...

10 Years

Today is our ten year wedding anniversary. And you said we'd never make it. Ha! Showed you.

Talk about ups and downs though. We sure have had them, that's for sure. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? It just sucks that we had to have this milestone on recruiting duty. C isn't even going to be here. He has to take a kid down to MEPS for the night. Figures. So maybe we'll get to celebrate in some way over the weekend. We haven't really made any plans. On to other things...

My semester is about over. I have to finish up my Psych final and my Art final and then I'll be all done. I've already registered for my summer classes: Intro to Ethics, Women in U.S. History, and Meteorology. Why Meteorology you ask? Well, I'm trying to be prepared in case we get to go back to San Diego and I can get accepted into SDSU, my school of choice. I needed a physical science class to satisfy SDSU's gen ed requirements and that's the only one my school offers over the summer that didn't sound too horrible. I feel like such a nerd for taking it, but we'll see how it works out. I only have the summer and Fall semesters left before I'll have my A.A.

The girls only have a month and a half of school to go. This year has really flown by. It's still sort of up in the air about their plans for going to Ohio this summer. I don't know when they're leaving, who is picking them up, or how long they're staying, lol. Guess I should be figuring all that out.

Everything else around here is pretty much normal. It's still chilly and rainy here in Vermont. Spring, otherwise known as the Mud Season, sucks and we're just holding out for summer. I think that just about catches everyone up on us. Till next time.

States I've Been To

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

What have I read?
These are the 25 most popular classic books at What Should I Read Next?

I liked it!

I didn't like it!

I want to read it!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Emma - Jane Austen

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

Candide - Voltaire, Norman Cameron

Complete Tales and Poems - Edgar Allan Poe

King Lear - William Shakespeare

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Take the 'What have I read?' test now!
Eight different categories to try!
Buy your books at Amazon US or Amazon UK

What have I read?
These are the 25 most popular overall books at What Should I Read Next?

I liked it!

I didn't like it!

I want to read it!

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

1984 - George Orwell

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

Take the 'What have I read?' test now!
Eight different categories to try!
Buy your books at Amazon US or Amazon UK

Bored?

Try this website. It's sort of like Pong.

Just a Heads Up

I'm as big a fan of the forwarded emails as the next joker; however, there is a little something that people should realize. Most of the forwarded emails you get warning you about something or other, or claiming some wrong doing of some kind aren't true. Examples: Starbucks and sending the troops coffee, dialing such and such a number so that people can make free calls off of your line, dialing *whatever to reach the highway patrol and a bunch of others that I'm not thinking of. If you love forwarding on these emails to help out your friends, try verifying their validity by visiting www.snopes.com first. It's easy and it's free. Just type in a few key words into the search field and voila! You'll undoubtedly find out whether or not your treasured email is true or false and you won't look like a doof for falling for scams and circulating rumors. Thanks and have a nice day.

Just Something for Fun

http://64.82.32.68/Birthday.asp

Check out that link and enter in your info. Make sure and click on your life path number to see what it means. Mine describes me to a t. It's weird.

2003 San Diego Fires

 

Here's pictures from the fires that I've been promising for years now. I just got them developed today. Pictures don't really give that week justice. Anyway, if you'll notice the white stuff on the ground, that's ash and these are pictures from the housing we used to live in. 

Fires Cont.

 
Another picture of the sky. Take notice of the sun towards the top. 

Fire Cont.

 

This just gives you an idea of how dark the sky was. This was taken during the day and I didn't alter it in any way. That's how the sky really looked. 

Civilization

We got a little taste of it this Sunday. We decided to get up early and go to New Hampshire, Manchester to be exact. It was really nice to get away if only for a little while. Manchester is the largest city in northern New England so it was like being somewhere "normal" for a change. We drove around and did some shopping. We also had our first wood fired pizza and if you haven't had one, you're really missing out. It was the best pizza ever. We also went to this gourmet cooking store and bought these soup mixes that are wonderful. Yum, yum.

Other than that, things are pretty much normal around here. It's still really cold, but it's cold almost everywhere right now. We don't have any snow though and that's nice. Ohio has more snow than we do, heheh.

The girls are the same. They annoy the snot out of me, but that's normal. C doing fine also. His job never changes. My school is coming right along. I had midterms and aced the hell out of them. The class averages were pitiful but I got high 90's on all three. Woohoo for me! So, there ya go for now.

Apologies

Do sincere apologies exist anymore? From my experience, most apologies are given to get the person saying them out of trouble or to make the original problem "go away". Or maybe they say, "I'm sorry" because they said or did something that made them feel like an idiot and that's the fastest way to dig their way out of a hole. Do people say that they're sorry because they actually mean it? Because they feel shame or actual contriteness? Because they feel bad for hurting someone's feelings? Because they feel honest regret? I'm a realist and realistically, I'd guess that 98% of apologies given are for the first reasons I listed and not because they feel a "keen regret". And, along with being a realist, I'm also a fairly honest person and will say that I don't remember the last time I apologized for something wrong that I did or said and meant it. People just don't do that anymore. I think most apologies are selfish. People say them to make themselves feel better, not the person that they wronged. Maybe we should start trying an honest approach and instead of saying, "I'm sorry" say, "Well, I surely said something stupid now didn't I?" and leave it at that. Frankly, I'm tired of empty apologies; saying them and hearing them. People should try saying what they mean and not what they think other people expect them to say.

I know that I can say that this post isn't the result of anything that's happened and that it's not directed at anyone specific, but who would believe me? Along with insincere apologies, everyone has an ulterior motive, lol. This was actually just a thought that I had while I was typing up a paper.

Why isn't anyone ever up to chat when you can't sleep at 2 am????

Oh Geez

I like these things. I know. I need my head checked.

9 lasts:

last cigarette: Never
last beverage: Pepsi
last kiss: Yesterday sometime.
last movie seen: Life as a House.
last phone call: My mother-in-law called.

last cd played: Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
last bubble bath: I have no idea.
last time you cried: Yesterday while I was watching Life as a House. That movie never fails to make me cry.

8 have you evers:

have you ever dated one of your best friends: Yes, I married him too.
have you ever skinny dipped: No
have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: No
have you ever fallen in love: Once
have you ever lost someone you loved: Various family members.
have you ever been depressed: Yes
have you ever been drunk and thrown up: Lol. Yeah

7 states you've been to:
1. Ohio
2. Florida
3. California
4. Arizona
5. Texas
6. New Mexico
7. New York

6 things you've done today:
1. Talked on the phone with my sister, husband, and mother-in-law

2. Read a chapter in my psych book.

3. Finished reading my Tess Gerritsen book that I bought yesterday.

4. Took a shower and got dressed.

5. Watched some tv.

6. Took goofy pictures of my dog.

5 favorite things in no order:
1. My husband and kids.

2. Reading

3. California

4. Summer

5. Grey’s Anatomy

4 people you can tell [almost] anything to:
1. C

2. Kam

3. Jennifer

4. Bailey

3 wishes:
1. I wish that we get to move back to California (or Hawaii) at the end of this year.

2. I wish that (this is a private wish).

3. I wish that my husband, kids, and I are healthy and happy for life.

2 things you want to do before you die:
1. Travel the world.

2. Finish my degree and get the job that I want.

1 thing you regret:
1. Not going to school sooner.

I Have Been Angry = No Updates

I'm still not over it (anyone who knows me knows I hold a grudge) but I'm here anyway.

So, what's been going on for the past few days? The girls had the week off of school and don't go back until Wednesday. 11 days total for Winter Break. It's been interesting to say the least. I didn't realize how much I am able to get done while they're at school until they were home all week long.

Yesterday, C was on the local radio station promoting the annual softball game that Barre has. All the local businesses compete against each other over the weekend while raising money for a few area kids. Last year they raised over $19,000 and this year they're hoping for $22,000. The Marines team up with the radio station. The radio station thing was funny though cuz they were just talking smack, making stuff up, and joking around. C said he worried the whole time about swearing on the radio, lol, but he didn't.

I've been out of my mind with school work. I have midterms next week and with the girls home, haven't really been able to get prepared for them. I've had dreams the last two nights about trying to study. I started reading, taking notes, and writing my paper at 10 am yesterday morning and didn't get finished until 11:30 pm. Long day for me.

We're waiting for a huge snowstorm to hit. They're saying we should get 6-14 inches of snow by tonight. It just figures that all winter long it hasn't really felt like winter here and then as soon as March hits and spring is right around the corner, winter finally arrives in Vermont.

S would like to thank everyone for her birthday gifts. She thought the phone call and card she got from Toys R Us was really neat and the card she got from Modern Woodman of America was just special.

Way to go everyone.

The Infamous Granny Story of 2006

Here is the actual article that I scanned out of our newspaper. The photo shows the back entrance to the recruiting office as the women were being led away to be arrested by the police. They could possible get 3 months in jail depending on how their court appearances go. C said that his phone's been ringing off the hook from people calling riding them about letting old women commandeer the office, lol. The grannies were also on our local news last night and this morning. I think this whole thing gives you all an idea of just how small the community that we live in is.

Newpaper Article from Yesterday

Three protesters arrested during Barre anti-war rally February 16, 2006 Times Argus Staff

BARRE – Three elderly women were arrested late Wednesday afternoon for commandeering an office room inside a military recruiting office on North Main Street in Barre. Lea Wood, 89, of Montpelier; Mary Belenky, 72, of Marshfield and Barbara Grant, 69, of Plainfield were singing anti-war songs inside the recruiting office along with about a dozen other women. When the women, who said they represented the Women's International League for Peace and the Raging Grannies, refused recruiters' requests that they leave, Barre police were called to resolve the situation, according to a police report. All the women except Wood, Belenky and Grant acquiesced with police orders. The three holdouts were eventually escorted by police out of the building and issued citations to appear in Vermont District Court in Barre to answer charges of misdemeanor trespassing. The women who staged the sit-in were part of a larger contingent of protesters holding signs and singing outside the Main Street building, police said.

Pay Attention Here

This post sort of relates to the one I posted earlier today. Well, I guess it's more of an update. Anyway, for those of you that would be interested, you might want to start paying more attention to the blog for the next 10 or so months. We are on the last leg of recruiting duty and from here on out will be getting ready to move. The first step happened today. C submitted his request for new orders. We will find out in about 6 weeks where we will be going; whether it is where he requested or where the Marine Corps decides that he is needed. I figure it's safe to say where he requested since the paperwork has been submitted and nobody's opinion will make a difference now. His first two choices are with two MALS units at Miramar, CA. His Third choice is with a MALS unit in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. So, there you have it.

I know that all the family is always saying that they want us to get stationed closer to Ohio, but we don't want to move to Virginia and we don't want to live where there are hurricanes every year (North or South Carolina). We want to be warm again. Besides, way more people visited us while we lived in Cali than while we lived here in Vermont and Vermont is within driving distance. And if by some weird chance we end up in Hawaii, are you really going to complain if you come to visit us there? I don't think so.

But, if we end up in Virginia or wherever, at least it's not Vermont. ;)

Things around our house have been pretty uninteresting lately. That's why the updates have been few and far between.

ANYwho, the girls are doing pretty good. With the crazy weather we've been having, I think they're coming down with a cold though. School is going good for the both of them. The year is going by really fast.

C's hanging in. Work is tough for him right now and June can't get here fast enough. He put over 700 miles on his car yesterday. Isn't that just craziness??

My school is coming right along. My vampire class is my favorite by far. I had all my work for the week done yesterday. Art Appreciation comes in second. And Psych is still pulling up in last place. I just like being back in school no matter what the classes are.

I discovered the other day that we have a leak in our roof. Fun for us. I called every roofer in the area and could only get 2 of them to set up an appointment to come out and then they never showed up. I'm sure what I'm going to do about it now. Luckily, it's too cold for the snow to melt and it's not currently leaking. Never thought I'd hope for cold weather, lol. I don't think the cold temps are going to hold out past today though. Keep your fingers crossed.

How Do You Lean

I found this website while surfing people's blogs. The following graphic shows how I scored and it totally reflects where my political opinion lies when I choose to have an opinion on politics.




You can take the quiz yourself if you so choose at the following website:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

Anyway, no point to this post. I just thought the quiz was interesting.

After some snow we got on 11/23.

This is a snow storm we got on 12/2. All it ever does here is snow if you haven't noticed.

Bailey's snow beard.

This is a picture I took this morning. Snow, snow, snow.

So Excited for Myself

I completed my registration at CCV and will start classes on January 23rd. I found out on Thursday that I only have 9 classes to go to get my A.A. which is only three more semesters. I'll be done around this time next year, right before we're due to move again. I can't believe it! I didn't realize I was so close. The classes I'm going to register for this semester are Intro to Psychology, Art Appreciation, and The Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film. I'm so excited and can't wait to get started. After the blah classes I was required to take at UOP, these will make for a nice change of pace. Woohoo!!

Also in the news...I got pulled over by the police for the first time on Thursday. I was so completely nervous, lol. Anyway, Vermont requires a yearly vehicle inspection and our sticker wasn't valid because it was issued in New Hampshire where we bought the 4Runner. We knew that and everything, but just hadn't gotten around to taking it for an inspection here in Vermont. Luckily, he let me go without a ticket and I went out that day and got the inspection, heheheh.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, thanks for asking. It was just a quiet, normal, family dinner for us this year. No driving for 15 hours, no alcoholic Marines, and no arguments. Can't ask for more than that.

I have most of our Christmas decorations up. There's just one more window I need to do but I ran out of suction cups. We don't have our tree yet either because we get live ones now. We'll probably get it in the next week or so.

Well, that's that for now.

Random Picture

This is just a picture I took when we were driving up to Williston along I-89. I thought it looked nice. 

Bailey's first Halloween. She wasn't too happy about it, lol.

Camel's Hump Mountain. This was taken a few days after the storm. If you'll notice, the top of the mountain still had snow on it.

Bailey checking out the snow. This is at the beginning of the storm when we only had a couple inches.

The snow storm

Mini Covered Bridge Tour

The following are pictures that we took of covered bridges in the area. All of these are located in Chelsea and Tunbridge, Vermont. All of them were about an hours drive from our house and they were all within miles of each other. This is just a small sample of the covered bridges in New England. Mill Bridge was rebuilt a few years ago after an ice flow washed the original away. All the others are the original bridges. It was a pretty neat day. Oh, and they all also cross the same river, White River.

This is Moxley Bridge and White River which runs beneath it. It was built in 1883.

This is Flint Bridge. It was built in 1845.

This is Larkin Bridge. It was built in 1902.

This is Mill Bridge and the river and dam beneath it.It was built in 1883.

This is Cilley Bridge and the surrounding scenery. It was built in 1883.

This is Howe Bridge.

Another fog picture from this morning.

Here's another fog picture. I took this one just this morning.

This is the turkeys heading back to the trees after I scared them by taking their pictures, lol.

Here's a picture of some turkeys that came out of the trees that you see in the distance. You can also see where our yard ends and how close they get to our house.

I took this on 9/2 in the morning looking out my front door. I thought the fog was neat.

Kam and Candy dancing back in '96 or '97. Loooong time ago, lol. I stole that shirt from Kam, heheheh.

Exercise is Bad for Your Health

This has been an eventful day. First, we've been having problems with house flies. They're freaking everywhere. So, I've been spraying the crap out of my house with bug spray lately. We're probably going to die of bug spray inhalation, lol. Today, in addition to flies, I also had a wasp get into the house. FYI, Raid Flying Insect spray is excellent.

Also, we decided to move Bailey from the front yard to the back yard and train her to do her business in the fields behind our house. Well, I go to hook her tie out to the back steps and there is the neatest (if you're into those things) spider I've ever seen in real life. Here's a picture of it.
If anyone happens to know what kind of spider this is, I'd be interested to know. Leave a comment. Then, after I proceeded to beat at it with a large branch, it ran off and I tied Bailey to the steps. Stupid person that I am, I didn't unlock the back door. So, I unhooked Bailey from her tie out thinking (again, being stupid) that she'd go to the front door to be let in the house. Boy, was I wrong. She took off like a bat out of hell and ran clear down the back of our road 5 houses down. The girls and I chased her down there (M crying the whole way) and then I had to drag her back since she's too heavy to carry very far. I'm telling ya, if she hadn't stopped, she would've been a homeless dog tonight I was so mad.

Now, I'm pooped from chasing the dog and half dragging, half carrying her home, which she's lucky she still has. I'm ready for a nap. But, I have an algebra assignment due today and I decided to make homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. Making noodles is a chore in itself. So, just thought I'd share my day. Here's a couple more pictures of Bailey, The Dog Who Lived.

This first picture is the Boxer Smile. She doesn't do that all the time, but it cracks us up when she does. She looks so dopey.
The second picture is Bailey and her friend Buster playing in our front yard. He comes to visit her every so often.

The Wonders of a Blog

I found out yesterday that we missed seeing a friend of ours while we were in Ohio by mere days. HowEVER, if he had kept up with our Blog, he would have known when we were going to be there and we could have planned accordingly. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! Cedar Point is much more fun when you go with a group of people, moron.

Anyway, you can definitely tell summer is almost over in Vermont. It got down to 46 last night. We went to bed with the windows open and we froze our tushes off. I'm sure the leaves will start changing anytime now. It's almost 11 am and still only 57 outside right now. BRRRR! I can do without the snow, but we're looking forward to seeing how Bailey does this winter. She doesn't even like to go outside when it's raining, lol. The other day, C was going to let her outside and she took one look and saw that it was raining and peed on the floor right in front of the door. So much for Boxers being a vicious breed of dog. The only people that would think that are people that have never actually been around one.

Well, time again to hit the books. Laters.

More Pictures.

My nephew, Noel. Fresh out of the oven at 2 weeks old.


Baby Noel sleeping at my dad's.


Noel in his carseat.


Noel chillin' in his carseat.


Noel in his carseat.


C, Noel, and Bailey at my dad's.

Another picture of Bailey sleeping. She does a lot of that and in weird positions.

This is a cool picture I took last weekend. I just thought the way the sun was shining through that cloud was neat.

This is a picture of Bailey sleeping after her bath. She was shivering really bad, so we covered her up and she fell asleep like that.

Just an FYI

I cancelled our Vonage phone account today. That's the 802-522-1038 number. The service sucks, so there ya go. We still have our cell phones though like always.

Warning!

I finally got our desktop up and running and was able to access my address book. Be forwarned that I had funny e-mails that I have just been waiting to forward on to everyone, hehehe. If you didn't get any, you were probably the one who sent them all to me, lmao.

This is, obviously, a rainbow. I took this after some rain we got last week. This is the view we have out the front of our house. Pretty nice, eh?